Semi-self-closing handbag



Patented Nov. 18, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SEMI-SELF-CLOSING HANDBAG Emmett Lee Edwards, Washington, D. 0.

Application February 9, 1945, Serial No. 577,037

1 Claim.

This invention relates to handbags and while a handbag constructed in accordance with the invention is designed primarily to be made of a strong fabric, it is to be understood that it could be made of other materials such as leather.

It is an object of the invention to provide a hand bag having flexible handles connected thereto in a new and novel manner whereby when the bag is picked up by means of the handles, the top thereof will form a diamond fold which will completely close the bag, any load which may be contained within the bag serving to increase the tightness of the closure as long as the bag is being carried.

A further object is to provide a handbag which is cheap to manufacture and will not readily get out of order,

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawing Figure 1 is a perspective view of the bag closed.

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the bag open.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal horizontal sectional view taken through the handbag on a plane parallel to, and immediately below, the edge of the top opening thereof, the bag being shown in open position.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference l designates a handbag formed of canvas, duck, soft leather, or any other suitable strong material which will fold readily. This bag is formed with a rectangular bottom 2 made up of a diamond fold such as disclosed, for example, in my co-pending application filed March 28, 1944, Serial No. 528,466.

The bag is further formed with a rectangular top opening of like dimensions with, and opposing, the rectangular bottom 2, and with rectangular sides and ends, the wholebeing thus given a substantially rectangular parallelepiped configuration, It is understood, of course, that the handbag being of readily foldable material, the parallelepiped configuration in which it is formed will be affected somewhat by the weight of the contents carried thereby, or by the attachment of handles to the bag. This is ap- 2 parent from Figures 2 and 3, from which it is seen that the connection of the handles distorts somewhat the rectangular outline originally and normally carried by the top opening.

The bag can be of any desired proportions and the upper portion of the bag is provided at the sides thereof with upwardly diverging creases 3 to indicate the lines on which the bag is to be folded when closed. A pair of these creases is located at each side of the bag as indicated, for example, in Fig. 2. Located between the upper portions of the creases of each pair and at opposite sides of the center line 4 of each side of the bag are two pairs of openings for grommets arranged in a row, the grommets of each pair being indicated at 5 and 6. The grommets of these two pairs are at the same distance from the top edge of the bag but are at opposite sides of the line of the corner fold l. Formed in the front end of the bag is another row comprising a pair of grommets 8, which row is located at a greater distance from the top edge of the bag than is the row of grommets 5 and 6. The grommets 8 are positioned between the grommets 5 adjacent to the front of the bag. A similar arrangement of grommets 8' is provided at the back end of the bag.

Two flexible handles 9 are used in connection with the bag. Each of these can be formed of a strong cord, thong or other suitable flexible material capable of sliding freely within the grommets. Each handle is threaded into the bag through the grommets B or 8' at that end of the bag where the handle is located. Both end portions of the handle are then extended within the bag from the grommets 8 outwardly through the grommets 5, thence along the outside of the bag and inwardly through the grommets 6 where the ends of the handle are held against withdrawal from the grommets by knots ID or other enlargements.

When the bag is pulled open the flexible handles are pulled lengthwise within the grommets so as not to interfere with the opening of the bag. After the bag has been partly or entirely filled, the intermediate portions of the flexible elements or handles 9 are pulled away from each other.

This will cause the end portions of the handles to be placed under tension and when the handles are swung upwardly toward each other the weight of the bag and its contents will cause the bag to fold along the diverging lines 3 and upwardly along diverging creases H and i2 extending from each of the corner creases 1. These diverging creases divide the adjacent portions of the bag into triangular areas. The weight of the bag will cause the areas [3 to swing downwardly onto the end portions of the bag, thereby producing a substantially rectangular diamond fold. The several thicknesses will be held tightly together because the grommets engaged by each end portion of the handle will be brought into close relationship one above the other.

Supplementalfastening means such as a strap l4 and buckle l5 could be employed;

Obviously the bag can be proportioned for use as a shopping bag or as a hand bag and in larger sizes could be used by service men as dufiel-bags and containers for other purposes. An important characteristic is the fact that when the bag is carried by means of the handles it will close under the weight of the bag and will be main tained tightly closed.

It is to be understood that if desired the groinmets 6 can be dispensed with and instead of forming the handles with enlarged or knotted ends; they can be attached directly to the bag at the points where the grommets 6 ordinarily would be located. This is sum an obi/i'ousfn'odification'tha't illustration thereof is not deemed necessary.

What is claimed is:

h handbag of fiex'ible and creasable material arranged to provide a handbag of rectangular parallelepiped configuration, having a rectangular top opening, a rectangular bottom, and corner fold lines extending between the opposed corners of the bottom and the top pemn tne upper portion of each of the opposed sidesiof the hand bag being provided with a pairof crease li'nes diverging upwardly from a line drawh' lo'ngitudi n'allythrough the center of the sides, the hand bag having two pairs of openings in the upper portion of each side, said pairs being arrahg'ed in a row parallel to, and spaced from, the edge of 4 the top opening of the handbag, the openings of said pairs being equidistant from the edge, each of said pairs of openings being disposed between the upper portions of each pair of crease lines, and at opposite sides of said longitudinally-drawn center line, the openings of each pair of openings being disposed on opposite sides of the corner fold lines, the upper portions of the opposed ends of the handbag each having a pair of openings arranged in a row parallel total-1d spaced from, the edge of the top opening, the openings in the ends being spaced further from the edge of the 66p opening than the first named openings, opposed fiexiblhandles on the handbag, each handle having its intermediate portion positioned enterior'ly or the handbag, each end portion of each handle beingextended into one of the last named pairs of openings, out of the nearest opening' of the adjacent pair of first named openings, and into the other opening of said adjacent pair offirst named openings, and enlargement means on the ends of the handlefor' seeming the same against withdrawal from the last specified openmg.

EM'METT LEE EDWARDS.

REFERENCES CITED fifh-e rent-mag references are of record in the gar, 657,047 77 54 9243681 mber. 1961155 220 32- 

